In a 14-2 decision, the University of California Regents voted Thursday to approve student fee hikes beginning in summer 2004.

Under the new increases, in-state undergraduate students will pay an additional $700 per year, bringing the total expense to $5,684 annually. After campus specific fees are included, the average annual cost for an in-state undergraduate student will be $6,230. In-state graduate student fees will increase by $1,050 per year, or 20 percent, making the annual cost of graduate fees for UC students $6,269. With individual campus fees, average in-state gradate costs add up to $7,893.

Residential graduate students had originally faced a 40 percent fee increase under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s previous budget proposal, but an agreement last week between the governor and UC cut that increase in half.

Out-of-state student fees will increase by 20 percent as well, with undergraduates paying $23,186 annually and graduate students paying $22,832.

“The fee increases approved today are significant, and I know they will have an impact on families,” UC President Richard Dynes said in a press release. “We are striving, to the best of our ability given the state’s fiscal crisis, to preserve quality, accessibility and the University’s contributions to the economy, health and quality of life of California.”

In the statement, Dynes said the Regents decided to raise fees before the governor and legislature passed the state budget because they wanted to give students and their families ample notification.

“While the legislature and governor are still negotiating a final state budget, the regents chose to move ahead with decisions on fees in order to avoid delay in providing notice of fee levels to students and their families,” he said.

Schwarzenegger’s recently released May budget revision includes some funding for Cal Grants to give to eligible in-state undergraduates, but under last week’s agreement between the governor and Dynes, fees for resident undergraduates will increase eight percent in the 2005-06 and 2006-07 school years. Beginning in the 2007-08 school year, the agreement also forces the UC Regents to limit any further fee increases to at most 10 percent per year.